T.X. Watson's Pre-EVENT blog

Actually, it's already started, and has been going for a few weeks now. It's already been a source of inspiration for some of my posts.
I'm talking about the war on "The War on Christmas."

Being a northerner (I live in New Hampshire) the holidays are the only time of the year when religious oppression really starts to set in.

I say "Religious opression," but what I really mean is "Christian whining." It's not like there are Islamic groups getting particularly active this time of year. No, this is the time of the year when the entirety of the Christian nation conspires to try to force everyone else to simultaneously celebrate their holiday, and refuse to allow anyone to celebrate their holiday without making it all about their god.

Most of the year, it's not really a big deal. My friends are mostly atheists and all accepting of my atheism, it's been years since High School, where I was afraid to let people know publicly that I was an atheist (my close friends knew, and it's not like no one ever saw me with a copy of the God Delusion, but I was always careful not to bring it up) and, in general, the only thing that really bothers me about Christianity's intrusion into the secular world is the unusual shop hours on Sundays, which seem to be the day I most frequently need something after 6pm.

I've been called Scrooge already, which is annoying after forty or so times a season. I've been called soulless, evil and gay, though that last one isn't really an insult so much as an arguably false claim about me, and those last three were in response to an article about the Salvation Army's systemic homophobia. People have made fun of me for celebrating, and for not celebrating, Christmas. (I haven't actually gotten yet, this year, the solution to the double-standard: "Just become Christian.")

There are some things I like about Christmas, but they tend to be overwhelmingly outweighed by my paired distaste for the rampant consumerism of the season, and the annual nationwide campaign to attempt to widen the hole in the separation of church and state, and shove Christianity into the homes of every non-Christian in the country.